ayotte. mccain now willing to hear her side of the story. >> i will be glad to meet with her and listen to her positions and justification for her comments but i'm -- i'm very unhappy with her performance. >> reporter: graham is also looking forward to hearing from rice. >> there will be a lot of questions asked of her about this event and others. >> reporter: ayotte told cnn that rice's staff contacted her about the meeting. she believes it will focus on rice's, quote, representations of what happened at benghazi. rice is considered a top pick to replace secretary of state hillary clinton who said she will leave her post when a replacement is found. mccain, graham and ayotte all said they would block any effort to advance rice if she is nominated. i'm ed payne, reporting. >> later this week rice will meet with acting cia director mike morrell as well as senator susan collins of maine the top republican on the homeland security committee. >>> more republicans say the looming "fiscal cliff" is